(NSS)Chapter 15: Nature transformation (Patreon)

The Hokage did explain that the reason he didn't get it on the first time wasn't that it was too hard to do compared to chakra flow but rather that it was counter productive if the one using it wasn't good at timing their attacks perfectly. Specifically the technique involved purposefully delaying ones chakra before bursting it out in a heavy but controlled manner to attack. Most jutsu instead rely on a constant smooth flow of chakra to use hence why the technique was very tricky to pull off in the correct timing.-

"It's a simple but ingenious technique that adds a level of unpredictability to whoever uses it, very well done indeed young man!" The Hokage praised as I stood in his office after he had performed my technique. 

"I was just trying to improve my taijutsu style is all." I said honestly.

"Ah yes I was curious about that, it's quite interesting from what little I have observed. You took inspiration from the Inuzuka clans taijutsu correct?" he asked and I nodded.

"Rather than focus on a single beast however I wondered if I could mimic all of them instead and if so just how powerful would it be? So far it has been quite a successful idea though regrettably none of my classmates have the skill needed to help me refine each form past the initial stage." I said excitedly.

"It is a struggle all pioneers of a path face at some point. Did you know that my own sensei the second Hokage Tobirama Senju faced similar challenges when he created a new jutsu?" The hokage said with a smile.

"Really?" I asked genuinely surprised since all the history books painted the man as a genius amongst geniuses who created dozens of powerful jutsu from scratch.

"It's true, my sensei would regularly have periods of time where he couldn't make any progress on a project he was working on and used my teammates and I as sounding boards to try and break through even if none of us understood what he was talking about. There was even this one time when Homura was talking about his dinner and sensei rushed off with sudden inspiration. Talking about a simple pot of curry had helped sensei create the shadow clone and multishadow clone jutsus. It is a fact few know outside my own teammates." The Hokage said with a nostalgic smile.-

"It sounds like you miss your sensei a lot." I said honestly and he nodded.

"Yes, I can't help but wish he had not died when he did and was able to lead the village for much longer. But it doesn't do to dwell on what could have been, you lose sight of what could be if you do." He said sternly.

"I understand, I was wondering if you might help me with something that's been bothering me for a while now?" I asked hesitantly.

I had looked and looked and tried for years now but for some reason I was still unable to mimic my beasts chakra abilities. The texts I had access to were of no help at all as besides mentions of chakra nature transformation there was nothing that explained what I was missing. I couldn't even figure out what the hell chakra nature transformations were as whatever it was exceeded my C rank limit on knowledge and was kept firmly out of my reach. Not for lack of trying mind you as after the first time I cloaked myself in natural energy and slipped into the shinobi archive I got caught because of the seals in place to detect people in the archive.-

After that I got caught every damn time I tried a new method to get past those seals. 

"And what is it that is bothering you?" he asked curiously.

"Well I have been trying to mimic my beasts abilities for a few years now and at first I thought it was because my chakra control wasn't good enough but that wasn't it at all. Then I thought it was because I wasn't molding my chakra right but that wasn't it either after I learned actual jutsu and understood the difference. I've looked and looked at everything I could bellow C rank and all I have found that sounds promising is something called "chakra nature transformation" but it is a higher rank topic so I can't learn it anywhere." I explained with a little of my frustration slipping out.-

"Oh? I can see why you are frustrated with your lack of progress in this regard. Your assumption that chakra nature transformation would help you in this endeavor is a partially correct one as well. Historically speaking hand signs actually came after chakra nature transformation did but are more widely accepted as the best way to use jutsu due to the ease of use. However when it comes to modifying and creating new jutsu chakra nature transformation is a subject all shinobi must learn to succeed at."-

"Normally I would not make an exception for you to learn the information on that subject however it is clear that your chakra control has hit a nearly flawless level and as such chakra nature transformation is the logical step forward for you. As for whether it will help you successfully copy your beasts I will not spoil the surprise." The old man said with a cheerful laugh.

I got a scroll delivered to me the next day that I was told to memorize the content of and then destroy it in front of the ninja who gave it to me. The content of the scroll was both simple and infuriatingly vague at the same time. Basically the scroll explained how chakra nature transformation was basically changing ones chakra directly into a certain nature. That sounded like a simple thing like just molding chakra with handsigns but it was in fact a totally different thing.-

The difference was when you used handsigns the chakra was static and only did exactly what you had programmed it to do with the handsigns. By changing ones chakra directly into a certain nature however you can still freeform your chakra and thus have a bunch more freedom to modify and create new jutsus. It just clicked in my mind exactly why I kept failing to mimic my beasts abilities despite copying their chakra movements perfectly. My beasts changed the nature of their chakra before they used their abilities and the movement of the chakra after that was just them molding their transformed chakra into a sort of primitive jutsu.-

Thankfully the scroll had the methods known for training each form of nature transformation and they seemed easy enough to do, I was wrong. I started by trying to turn my chakra into the lightning nature since it was the one I was most familiar with. The method described was to get a fresh leaf and to "vibrate my chakra " and if I succeeded the leaf would crinkle. That was it, that was the entire description about how to transform your chakra into lightning nature. As should be obvious I failed, like a lot. I lost count at about the hundredth attempt but I spent nearly a whole blasted month just to make the leaf crinkle a tiny amount.